


Where the sea ends

by QwertyBoii



Category: One Piece
Genre: Action/Adventure, Character Development, Comfort, F/M, Family Fluff, Light Angst, Maybe - Freeform, Original Character(s), Other, future pairing, im too soft for angst tho, is what we want to see, strawhats being a family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:41:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23964814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QwertyBoii/pseuds/QwertyBoii
Summary: there was something magical about stories - luckily she had one for each of them.orfollow along Nora, a girl with the world's most obscure sense of luck, as she tries to unravel the mysteries of her past, all while sailing on the ship of the world's craziest idiot.
Relationships: Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates & Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates, Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates & Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31





	1. it starts with a hat

When she meets him, she has to bend her neck, push her sunglasses upwards her blonde locks and squint her eyes to see him. He looks young and childish, hand on his peculiar hat to hold it on top of his head as he cranes above towards her to yell something. Something along the lines of why she's in a tree.

Why is she in a tree?

The girl simply shrugs and grins a carefree "why not".

He asks her if she's stupid.

——

They chat for a while as they wonder the mountain – she tells him stories from her current voyage quite animatedly and the spark in his eyes and ever-growing grin mirror her enthusiasm as he listens. Neither of them seem to be in a hurry, evident in the way their feet leisurely take them to the adventure of nowhere. They talk as if they're old friends.

He asks her of her dream after she finishes. It's short and simple, perhaps a bit blunt, but she looks sad when she smiles.

"I don't know," she says. A small pause follows.

"That's okay," he answers.

——

She learns that his name is Luffy.

He's one year younger, although he's a bit taller.

He loves his straw hat.

He wants to set sail, but needs to wait one more year to do so.

And he's apparently made of rubber.

She learns that final bit thanks to a mean-looking enormous mountain lion who leaps at them all of a sudden. The girl can't seem to focus on the tiger when her companion's arm just extends outside of his normal length and proceeds to punch the tiger right on his side. The arm then recoils back with a sharp sound.

It looks super cool. And weird. And raises so many question.

Luffy laughs at her bewildered face – she can't decide on which emotion to focus on – and simply tells her that he ate a fruit.

_Ah._ Makes sense.

A pissed-off roar breaks their short exchange. The cougar suddenly lunches back towards the boy, sharp fangs and claws aimed at his face. The rubber boy doesn't seem bothered, already extending both of his arms backwards. Before he can utter his attack, the cougar drops to the ground unconscious. with a pang.

"Bad kitty," the girl says. A single baseball bat rests in her hand.

The boy laughs, but is cut short when the cougar's family suddenly jumps out of the trees.

——

They have small cuts and bruises. Luffy's cheek suffers a red bruise and the girl's nose is bleeding. Large unconscious bodies of the cats surround them. The girl's still in awe of the rubber boy, particularly his stretching powers. She asks if it's okay to the tug on his arm to see how far it stretches.

"Go for it," he says. The girl takes his arms, walks away backwards a few feet and sure enough, his arm extends out far beyond human capability. She then runs back as far as he can stretch, which is pretty impressive.

"That's so cool!" she yells out from the distance and truly means it; she's settled long ago when she first went out on her journey that there are just way too many odd things and bizarre powers to be surprised anymore.

Luffy's calm laugh is very distinctive, a sound _shishishi_ is easy to sound out.

——

Curly Dadan is scary.

She yells the moment she sees Luffy, throwing very colorful adjectives on how ungrateful he is that he shows up whenever he likes. A whole week without a word.Veins visible, shark-like teeth on full display and it's quite a miracle her cigar hasn't fallen off yet. Her arm is ready to strangle him.  
She pauses when notices the dead cat he's carrying and his cheeky smile. He's brought a short brat with him too. Puffing out the smoke from her cigarette in annoyance, she allows them to enter.

He'll be the death of her, she thinks.

——

Once you get past the rowdiness, loudness, menacing word threats and occasional death glares, Curly Dadan and her gang of bandits seem quite nice. The girl had politely offered to help prepare the food as thanks to letting her stay and they had instantaneously agreed, taking in regards her seemingly polite manners.

They had physically kicked her out of the kitchen, however. She had already broken three plates, over- boiled the eggs, pushed over the pot of boiling water and dropped a knife a centimetre away from someone's toe.

We'd rather die that let her in the kitchen, they'd yelled in unison.

She'd offered to clean, instead. They had shuddered at the thought and threatened to kick her all across the East Blue if she managed to screw that up too.

They were nice enough.

——

It's loud but somewhat calm at first. People are chattering, some singing off the booze and some arm-wrestling on the table. He's unnoticed for a while. A quick grab from his left side, then a lazier swipe to his right. Pieces of food quickly begin to disappear off the plates and the only reasonable proof is the happy munching off the boy with canon-like stuffed cheeks.

It's comical, the way that the boisterous atmosphere quiets down suddenly. All eyes are on the boy who continues eating without a care in the world. There's a pregnant pause where the only sounds come from the boy's chewing. He looks around, slightly confused but ultimately unbothered by the stares of all those present.

"What?" is his only retort when all hell breaks loose. It's messy, loud and bloody. Some have turned against each other in their pursuit in strangling the rubber boy. Their yells echo throughout the mountains. Curly Dadan is only seconds away from breaking the large table and kicking their ass.

The newcomer laughs in the meanwhile.

——

They talk into the night. Luffy asks her to tell a story and she happily obliges. She loves stories after all. This one's a favorite.

It's just two of them for a while, but the curious ears of the bandits nearby keep company. Soon, few others join in to listen; a story about a cat and dog who rule the same land during the day and night, respectively. The moon provides a good lamp, along with the soft crackles of candles. Crickets have finally joined the night's orchestra.

Although they're eager to hear what happens next and intrigued by the fall and rise of her calm voice, they start falling asleep. Soon they're snoring loudly and off to the realms of dreams.  
There's a sudden weight on her left shoulder and the short girl turns to see the rubber boy snoring soundly. She recalls his question earlier today and wonders what his own dream is.

But sleep engulfs her mind and as no one seems to be awake anymore, she allows herself to shut her eyes as she lays them down.

She'll ask him tomorrow.

——

The girl stays for a few days; works quick jobs around the small village Luffy had taken her, just enough to buy some supplies for her to continue her journey. Her new friend occasionally accompanies her, but grows bored quickly when she's occupied with the tasks.

She promises him they'll go exploring later and he seems to cheer up.

——

She watches the bandit family gamble one night. Luffy watches too, although he doesn't really know what they're doing. The crowd cries out in anguish when they lose all their money, a lone smirk from a short man with pink spotted overalls becomes the only contrast. The newcomer hums in understanding when she sees his strategy. It's bold but calculative. His gestures suck, though. The short man, whose name slips her, suddenly looks at her. His smirk deepens. He looks like a leprechaun enjoying showers of gold.

"Wanna play?" he asks, finger tapping his large dictionary book to the side.

"Sure," she chirps in return and confidently places a bag of coins on the table. The once mourning crowd seemingly likes the turn of events.

"This enough?" she asks and all she gets are eager grins.

The wails and cries come from each person involved moments later. They're left penniless and heartbroken. She's won all their money. Their only hope is their best player of getting anything back is sweating and his scowl is on full display. He's not the laid-back winner anymore as he focuses all his might on the next shuffle of cards. His eyes flash in a glimpse of hope as he gains a queen of hearts in his hand, another queen placed in the center of the table. The girl seems distracted as she's trying to explain to Luffy the plot of the game and that no, you don't just collect cards. She hasn't seen the cards, he concludes. A small smile appears on his face. This is his chance. The cards are perfect and as he takes out a secret card from his sleeve, he thanks his luck. The men around him are grinning in confidence. It's over.

"Thank you for the game" the girl sings and suddenly lays her cards down. She's grinning.

It's a royal flush.

The bandits erupt into a volcano of cries and curses. Luffy laughs and celebrates her win.

They cry even harder at his betrayal.

——

"Why do you want to set sail?" she asks him one day, laid on the ground and enjoying the changing shapes of clouds.

"I want to be the Pirate King," he grins, "and I have a promise I want to keep."

The way he gently touches his straw hat when he says that, makes the girl gently touch the her necklace - a small single shell secured on a thin material of rope. His voice is calm and certain. She's heard those words before and she hasn't heard those ones at the same time. She doesn't laugh. There's a wondrous depth that he carries into what he says without even trying.

"Now, wouldn't that be a story?" she voices out. Her voice is light and there is a childish awe that accompanies it. That particular cloud over there kind of resembles a _hat._

He looks at her and his grin only grows.

——

Luffy learns that her name is Nora.

She's a bit weird.

She wears really cool colorful sunglasses.

She's great at telling stories.

And she seems lost.

Not in the literal sense- she'd memorized the trip back to Dadan's on her first try when it took him almost two months. She had immediately gone to the correct spot to deliver the fish salesman's package.

But she does seem lost, despite the fact that she's traveled before and knew her way around.

She stares at the sky as if it would tell her what to do.

She tells him she's looking for someone, yet doesn't know who.

Uncertainty laces her words when she decides on her next destination.

But she has an adventurous spirit and kind smile. Her stories are super interesting and they reminded him of Shanks's stories. She seemed pretty strong when she kicked those mountain lions with him. Plus, she has a cool bat.

Luffy smiles when he makes his decision. He's off to a fantastic start and he hasn't even started yet.

——

The sun starts to set. It gives wonderful hues of orange and yellow across the mountains and fields. The whole small village is basked in the color of warmth. A delicate wind adds to the beauty. The girl is at the port, getting the sail of her tiny boat ready. She's already said goodbye to Dadan and her bandits.

The rubber boy is next to her, relaxed and strikingly calm as he waits for her to finish.

"Oi," he voices out to take her attention, "Join my crew."

The confident grin of his makes her falter a bit. But she shakes her head with a chuckle.

"I refuse, but thanks."

What he says next leaves her baffled.

"I refuse your refusal."

Can he actually do that, she wonders.

She wants to laugh at the absurdity of the exchange but before she can utter a reply, he finishes for her. His eyes are shining and with his buoyant smile and determined stance, the sun casts a small glorious ray of light towards his vicinity.

For a brief moment, he looks like a _king_.

"I'll help you look for your dream."

And Nora can't really beat that.


	2. there is an orange

It's a year later when she comes back to East Blue. It takes around twenty different boats, a lot of willpower, unexplainable amount of luck and several hair color changes for her to get there. This time's color is soft lavender. Her scalp is silently crying for help.

The first time Nora meets the thief is in the middle of a random, mildly busy town. They quite harshly bump into each other. She assumes it's intentional since Nora's certain she moved to the side to avoid it. But she still smiles and apologizes, sparkly sunglasses glistening in amusement. The orange-haired girl in front of her also grins and gives her own apology, waving her hands in a defensive matter.  
Their smiles are a battle of wits.

'I know you bumped into me intentionally' says one.

'I have no idea what you're talking about' says the other one.

Eventually they both continue their way. A few steps forward and Nora slowly turns around to see the young girl only to find her disappeared.

Her small money pouch is missing.

But she's guesses she's lucky that she doesn't use that one to store her money in.

__

The second time Nora meets the thief, she unintentionally helps her steal. Nora's in a bar gambling, trying to earn some passing cash but she's quite enjoying herself at the same time. Perhaps she's a tad bit sadistic, but there's a pinch of satisfaction each time the familiar look of utter horror and demise appears on the face of an overbearing, egoistical asshole who uses their loud mouth and threats to win.

This particular asshole accuses things and people. 'I saw your hand under the table', 'She didn't handle the cards right,' 'He didn't chip in enough'. He's loud and obnoxious and overall sloppy. But his threats and accusations tick off the people on the table and make them fold most of the time. And although he's slowly starting to get on her last nerve, (and mind you she's been here for almost two hours) Nora's somehow managed to simply keep quiet and enjoy the game, earning quite a bit from the rounds.

He's furious she keeps winning though. Just like a ticking bomb waiting to explode, he's a short fuse away from either showing his punch or destroying the table. The clumsy waitress, who has her face covered from her work hat, that bumps into him on accident when he abruptly stands up from his seat, seems to be that fuse. The glass of booze comes spilling from her tray and onto his face. The waitress is flustered, weakly muttering apologies and trying to clean the mess.

The asshole is fuming. Bomb explosion already happened. Slamming the chair of the ground, he makes a grab for the collar of the waitress, lifting her off the ground to match his large height in the process. Screams insults and threats to her face, unbeknownst to him that he's setting the fuse on the waitress's own ticking bomb. She's one second away from whipping out the large rod and hitting him right where it hurts most. The thief had just wanted to do this as quickly and quietly as possible

"If you ain't playing anymore, get your chips off the table." The voice is calm, but there's a lingering menace in the words. Colorful sunglasses rest on her forehead as the girl glares the man down, feet comfortably laid on the table and a pair of cards in one hand.

There's an unspoken law that exists within the world of gamble: you always finish the game. It's the matter about an unrelenting sense of pride. You man up for whatever result – punch and accuse afterwards if you need to – but you the moment you accept to gamble that's it. You see it till the very end.

The fury that carried his curses towards the waitress is nothing compared to the angry fire that arises from the depths of the loud bastard. He returns her glare, teeth clenched and veins popping on his forehead and neck. His pride is hurt.

She's just silently called him a coward.

"Like hell I am you little bitch," he seethes, letting the waitress out of his hold, "I'll make you choke on the cards when I'm done with this fucking round."

It'll be a bother when they finish the game, Nora thinks, but she's willing to send the bastard flying for ruining a good round. While she ignores the loud cusses aimed at her, her eyes briefly scan for the clumsy waitress.

But she's gone.

A few final rounds, a large upcoming punch and an accusation of his stealing his money later, Nora concludes that the clumsy waitress had really fast hands.

_She'd realize it was the orange thief much later, sprawled on the ground of a familiar ship as her navigator tells her the moment when she intentionally poured booze on a large asshole's face in a small bar in East Blue and the shorty who had yelled something about chips and unknowingly helped her._

__

The third time Nora meets the thief, she's hiding on her boat. Her small boat can only hold one tiny cabin, so when a familiar orange head emerges from the cabin door, the lavender-haired girl is surprised to say the least. The thief doesn't expect this outcome as well, evident in the way she momentarily freezes in her step before muttering a small "fuck, it's the broke girl" when she sees her.

Nora kinda wants to punch her.

__

They work out a compromise in the end; Nora drops the thief off at the next island and she gives her forty-seven berries in return (it was a long and endless debate on the amount). They chat as they sail, although teasing and snarky remarks are the gist of it. The thief even admits she felt the tiniest and miniature sense of remorse when she stole her satchel containing a pathetic amount of money but Nora just laughs it off – she admits she doesn't use that one for money. It's information she definitely should've kept to herself but alas, her naive honesty are no means to an end. The young criminal simply compliments her for being prepared. Whatever that means.

There's a wave of silence for a bit. It's comfortable, however. The orange head briefly thinks of how nice it is to relax like this. Her's gaze lingers on her shorter companion's right shoulder and she asks what her tattoo placed there means – it resembles a star but the lines are all composed of odd writings in a strange language. The thief had always liked tattoos, but not necessarily her own. Nora's eyes behind the sunglasses she carries focus on the wood of the ship. She shrugs her shoulders and says she doesn't know. And she truly doesn't know.

It takes them half a day to reach the island. There's a small village located south of it but Nora has no intention of going there, opting to continue her journey. The orange thief thanks her for the ride and quite surprisingly and honorably, gives her the bag of berries. With a quick wink she scurries of towards the distance. It's when she's done weighing the anchor and slowly starting to sail away that Nora finally opens the bag.

It's her small, empty satchel and a single _tangerine_.

It takes a few blinks and a brief scan of the cabin to realize what had happened.

The orange head had stolen her actual money bag.

__

It's just her luck however, that something glimmers at the very edge of the island. The young girl's curiosity is as overbearing as her honesty, so she decides to gently steer the boat towards the direction of the shimmer of light. She can't quite tell what it is as the sand surrounding it gives off a perfect camouflage. Only when the boat is near enough to the shore and she's close enough to jump and land on the soft sand that the glimmering morphs into a small treasure chest, not much bigger than a fist.

The few small gold ingots inside it quickly make her forget about the trouble of her stolen money.

__

She's visited a few towns and smaller villages all on different islands – none have seen a rubber man. She'd figured she'd meet him somewhere on the East Blue as promised, although the whole clueless chase was beginning to become just a tad bit frustrating.

A few days and islands later, and the short girl arrives in a town situated in the Organ Islands. The streets are quiet and people move contently, albeit a bit pensive when they see the newcomer. A fruit stall owner she stops at warns her in a hushed whisper to be wary of the neighboring town – a vicious pirate crew had wrecked it and is currently occupying it. The girl simply thanks him with a smile, cheeks puffed with berries.

She's definitely not going to listen. Perhaps she should since that's the forth time she meets the familiar thief.

The sound of a cannon fire rings in the distance.

__

The neighboring town in question looks dead and empty. Most of the buildings are in ruins, windows shattered and the cobble streets are cracked, crumbles and ruins decorated them. It's a mess, though and throughout.

While calmly walking around the ruined paths, Nora turns her head just in time to catch a bright orange head turning around the corner. Willing to trust her gut but slightly dreading the eventual encounter with a potential thief again, the girl follows her.

There's a large hole in the ground just to the side one building where the orange head goes into. The underground room turns out to be a money safe, gold and jewels are scattered around the room, including the crown on the thief's head. There's a drunk pirate to her side, blocking the stairs and with a large axe in hand pointed towards her.

But before he can say anything, he slumps to the ground unconscious. The large baseball bat in Nora's hands barely did anything – a single tap and his intoxicated state let him do the rest. The short girl leans on her bat and sends a cheerful smile towards the thief, who doesn't even seem shocked but evidently annoyed and displeased.

"How lucky," Nora comments, eyeing the gold in the room but not talking about it in particular.

"I think I'm cursed," comes the retort.

It's the start of a beautiful friendship.

__

Who would've thought that finding the orange thief would end the ongoing chase for the rubber boy. But there he is, in all his straw hat glory, fists colliding ( _or not,_ in this case) with a clown who looks like he came straight out of the local travelling circus. The boy looks a bit taller, a few strands of his dark hair a bit longer, wearing a new red vest but silent confidence still ever-present in his stance… and Nora's suddenly feeling nostalgic.

She'd missed him.

But before she can yell and wave at him, the thief next to her bops the clown's head with her bag filled with the stolen treasure. Yells something about making it now her treasure because she found it. This woman makes no sense sometimes, Nora notes.

It sets off the clown though. He's hurling after her as she runs off. The lower half of his body seems to be missing. It's cool. And creepy. It raises so many questions.  
The short girl's hands rest on her bat, prepared to strike the clown at any notice when she notices he starts laughing.

Luffy's tickling his legs. This also raises additional questions.

__

Luffy's quite confused when this random purple-haired girl hugs him. Sure, she'd punched some of Buggy's body parts so he's somewhat grateful. He recalls she came with Nami.

Her grin is wide when she lets go. Her smile looks familiar.

"Long time no see! You haven't changed a bit," she says. Luffy doesn't really know any purple-haired people.

"Who're you?" he bluntly asks and his stare is blank as the girl chuckles, seemingly unbothered by his question.

"One year and you've already forgotten your crew mate?" she teases and it's suddenly clear why the smile looked familiar. His confused expression turns into a happy one and his signature grin appears full force. Long, rubbery limbs finally return that hug back.

"You didn't have purple hair, Nora!" he yells as he rejoices.

To the side, the orange thief is left blinking in utter disbelief. They know each other. Matter of fact, the girl she had been annoyingly bumping into the past month is in his crew.

And Nami just made a deal to travel with him.

Shit.

__

"You still own me my money."

"I gave you some of Buggy's so we're even."

"It wasn't even yours to give!"

"Or course it was. Besides, they money I planned to give you for helping me out was in the bag your captain threw away."

"He gave it to people whose whole town was demolished!"

"Not necessarily my problem."

"…I want my pouch back."

"…"

"Don't give me the stinky eye! I loved that pouch."

"I'll buy you a new one."

"Really?"

"For 200 berri."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feel free to review, like, kick my face or anything in between! i am starved.


	3. the grass is green

He meets his captain while tied to a cross, stripped away from his swords and having eaten nothing in a month all just to spite an ugly haired bastard.  
The young swordsman receives a choice from his future captain - to die or to join his crew. Considering he'd given him pretty shitty choices, Zoro chooses to live.

He meets his navigator while they're all surrounded by the enemy, his captain is locked in a cage and a group of scum are all aiming their weapons at her. He hears her utter a small "Thank you" as he steps in to deal with them. A clown then proceeds to knife him in his side.

He meets his third crew mate when he wakes up from his nap caused by either the lack of blood or exhaustion. She stares at him - or more precisely his hair - before finally breaking a small nod in a keen mix of approval and satisfaction. "Where'd you find such a strong shade? Rosaline's? Grand Line? I'm definitely buying that." Not a heartbeat after, the town people are suddenly chasing them with pitchforks and knives.

Never the one for art, but the swordsman's starting to see the pattern.

\--

Roronoa Zoro was having a pretty weird day.

First, his new captain, who kind of happened to save his ass from execution, was kidnapped by giant bird.

Okay, fine. Sure.

Then, after rowing a boat more than he had ever rowed in his past and present life combined, he did manage to find his captain, only to see him locked up in a small cage, curtesy of a clown.

Alright, no problem. People are into different things these days.

But then, he gets knifed in the side by the same said clown, who apparently, can dismember his own damn body parts.

You know what? Fine. Weird powers exist, the world is an oyster and what not. He fights with a sword between his teeth, he won't judge.

The house where he takes a nap burns down on top of him.

What a fucking wake up call, am I right?

He fights off a guy on a unicycle whose power includes spinning tops of all things.

They were chased off by angry villagers despite quite literally saving their town.

And now, this purple-haired weirdo is demanding to know where her pouch is.

Pretty weird day.

\--

It'll take them a day to reach the next island, Nami says. Their new navigator. She's loud and stingy and has an awful temper, but she'd put on a good front against the clown when he'd first met her. Doesn't fully trust her, though – there's a slight off-putting air around her. Not to mention her own blatant distaste in pirates. His dislike of her doesn't seem to be worth anything however, once Luffy decides on something, he's learned first-hand that there's no going back afterwards. Why bother something that can't be helped. So for now he instead rests his back on the railing of their small boat.

Nami and Luffy's friend are in the other joint boat. The navigator has a familiar straw hat in her hands and a small needle kit to the side. The other girl is laying on the floor, pointing at different clouds in the sky and saying what type of fruit they look like.

"Here," Nami tosses the now freshly repaired star hat back to the rubber boy but it only takes a minute for him to thrust his hand through the hat and burst open the stitches.

The orange head throws a spare needle at his face since she can't drown him from that distance.

Nora continues blabbering on about fruits.

He lets his eyes close. He's surrounded by crackheads.

\--

"So, is one an extra?" she's sitting on the side rail of the ship – the motions of the ship are smooth and the sea seems to be too calm for it to be a risk of falling over. Her sunglasses are pushed upwards.

He's just finished eating his share of the food they had for lunch. Their captain is still gobbling up the remains. That definitely looks like a not-so-distant problem.

"He uses one between his teeth," comes Nami's response. There's absolutely a teasing edge to it, judging by the way she innocently flips the pages of the newspaper she's reading.

The swordsman scowls. He's always been proud of the way he fights – a three sword style took blood, sweat and tears to master after all. There's no place in his mind to be ashamed of the way he yields his swords, but that undisclosed satirized tone of hers is starting to make his blood boil.

"Yeah! It's really weird but he's very strong so it doesn't matter," comes the unhelpful comment of the captain whose muffled words due to stuffed cheeks take more than appropriate time to understand.

"Oi," comes his gruff reply. Nora's having none of that. She has questions that need explaining and curiosity that needs to be settled.

"Don't your teeth, like, hurt?"

"They- "

"I'm surprised they haven't fallen off yet," Nami's just asking for a whopping at this point.

"Your teeth are fake?" yells out the captain.

"How do you even strike someone? Do you do something like this?" and suddenly she's doing different head turns to further illustrate her question. It's bizarrely comedic, despite her genuine interest. The orange thief lets out a small giggle behind her.

"That's not it, Nora! It's probably something like this," and he then proceeds to wham his head to the side.

Zoro lets a hand go through his short vivid green hair in annoyance. He can practically feel his nerves in his head dying out.

It's only moments later and a few shuffles around the small cabin of the boat followed by giggles that one makes when they're up to no good when the captain and his crewmate start fighting with a pair of small wooden sticks between their teeth. They start acting it out too, as Nora cries in vein when she strikes her sword from the most absurd head angle towards Luffy's body. He even mutters a defeated "How could you" as he goes down on the ground. Nora weeps tears of lost.

Nami looks unimpressed at their antics, but she hides the tiniest movement of her mouth upwards with her newspaper she continues on reading.

The swordsman can't help but think he's joined a crew of literal children.

\--

"We're in no condition to enter the Grand Line. We can't just steer out into it while being completely understaffed and with no equipment!" and although he isn't particularly interested or bothered by it, he has to agree with her.

"You're right," calmly says Luffy. Nami thinks there might be a glimpse of hope for sanity within him after all.

"We need a chef and a musician!" and young thief's glimpse of hope shatters like a bulldozer slamming into a glass house.

"We need more than a chef and a musician!" she screeches, trying to reason with him. It's a lost cause, but Zoro keeps quiet, even letting out a small chuckle when he sees that his captain thinks a chef and a musician are of equal importance. Having her fuming is a nice payback.

"Of course. We'll need meat too,"

"Some booze as well," he adds.

"I'm kinda itching for a new pair of sunglasses," Nora chimes in.

Nami rests her forehead on her palm, their combined dumb energy giving her anxiety.

"Unbelievable," is the only thing she says.

How the tables have turned.

\--

"I'm telling you, nectarines deserve more love."

"Nora, shut up about the nectarines already."

"They're round, have a nice color, their taste is the embodiment of going to heaven-"

"Oi Luffy, is she like this all the time?"

"Yup."

"-and they have the universe's biggest and most obnoxious seed so it's like super easy to clean them!"

"I still think that tangerines are far better."

"That's cause you're biased and delusional."

"...I'll show you delusional."

"N-nami, put the needle down!"

\--

The world around them basks in unsuspecting darkness, a crescent moon the only thing illuminating the night sky. A few stars flicker here and there.

Although his eyes are closed and his mind is programmed to quickly shut off and go to sleep, he lingers in an awake state for a bit more. The small, calm voice that is sometimes joined in by a chuckle or hushed question keep his attention. The soft voice tells the other one to be quiet. It then continues on, telling a story about the stars in the sky. She somehow has a story for each one her listener points at - short snippets about the legends that circle them. The quiet excitement laced in the words accompanied by the serene sounds of gentle waves in the stillness of the night create a song perfect enough to fall asleep to.

A small shishishi laugh sometimes contrasts that, but Zoro feels himself sink in calmness.

\--

He's been awake for a while, but it's at sunrise that he's finally accompanied with the first yawn from his companions. The soft sound of joints popping from a sudden stretch follow it.

The sun looks beautiful, basked in eternal youth as always.

"Morning," comes the sleepy voice of the previous night's storyteller who makes no real motion of leaving her place next to the rubber boy.

It's hard to believe he was ready to die only two days ago. Now he's on a journey of a lifetime, swearing his life on a guy who's probably dreaming about meat and sailing the sea with a money-hungry navigator who doesn't even trust them and a girl who spent the whole afternoon talking about nutritional values of fruits.

"Yeah."

And honestly? He wouldn't have it any other way.

.

.

Though you'd probably have to lunge a bullet through his skull before he ever admitted that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm crying cuz just imagine a smol Zoro just putting a random wooden sword between his teeth and going aight, guess this is my style now. watta absolute chad.

**Author's Note:**

> ho boy, strap in ladies and gents. or don't. it's gonna be a gentle ride, most probably.


End file.
